It would be hard to find a better way to spend a weekend than at a track like NJMP's Lightning course. We had nice people, interesting cars, a good group of instructors and a really good track crew. We also had great weather on Saturday; Sunday wasn't bad, but a wet (and I mean really wet) track isn't quite as much fun even if it provides a great learning opportunity.

Let's start with the volunteers who made the event possible: Joe Wozney (who couldn't join us but who was there in spirit), GWS President Bill Hopper, Paul Vandenberg, Laurie Harrell, Steve Spector, Henry Harrell, GWS VP John Heflin, Steve Walters, and Chief Instructor, Tom Newman. We can't forget the great instructor group: Jim Smith (who also did grid tech), Bob Hammond, Glenn Hoffing (who stepped in as a last minute replacement), Robert Isbitski, Jim Lozoskie, David Miller, Gus Mohammadi, Jim Potts, Sam Shiu, Mike Sokalsky, and Glenn Wiesenthal.

We had some great cars too. Among the Mercedes-Bemz entrants the standouts were Jim Potts' CLK63 AMG Black Series - a seriously sweet car; Jim Glenn's E55 AMG, and two really nice W202 AMG cars - Glenn Hoffing's and Don Labar's C43 AMGs. There were also four 190E 2.3-16 cars: Mike Sokalsky's 1987, and a trio of 1986es - Rick and Cindy Ellinger's, Greg Calabro's and Paul Vandenberg's. Among the non-Benz group, there was a really nice white Porsche GT3RS, two nice BMW M3s, a couple Porsche 944 Turbos, and a really sweet sounding Camaro that unfortunately had a problem with bent pushrods and missed part of the event.

Saturday was a perfect day for a track event - not too hot, not too cold, and a pleasant breeze. The grid tech team, Jim Smith and Steve Spector worked hard to get everyone through tech in plenty of time to attend the drivers meeting. Registration also went smoothly, despite the need to realign a couple of the run groups to make sure we had enough instructors for all students.

Chief Instructor Tom Newman got right to business by meeting with the instructors. Next came the student classroom session at which everyone got a thorough briefing on track procedures, flags, .... After the drivers meeting, the red run group headed out for their first run session of the day. Next up was the white group who went out with instructors; blue group was next, then green and the cycle started over – red, white, blue, geen until it was time for lunch. There was a gocart event running on the nearby F1 facility, so the concession stand was open for those who wanted a quick lunch. Instructors got box lunches.

Blue group and many of the white group students were cleared for solo during the morning sessions, so the instructors got a bit of a break during the afternoon. Things continued to run smoothly and everyone got in three sessions before five o'clock. Lots of happy chatter in the paddock indicated the day was a big success.

The Weather Channel was calling for rain overnight, and the track folks warned the gocart teams to cover their equipment as the rain was expected to be heavy at times. It was starting to sprinkle as we headed to the NJMP Drivers Club facility for a dinner arranged by Greg Calabro (thanks, Greg). The food and conversation were top notch, and the group stayed at the table until about nine. It was raining steadily as we headed for our lodgings – some at the Suites on Thunderbolt and some to nearby Millville.

Sunday dawned with more rain – enough to saturate the ground and create little creeks and ponds on the course. The track crew did their best to deal with the standing water, but with the continuing light to moderate to heavy rainfall, there wasn't much they could do. As is his practice, Chief Instructor Tom Newman put instructors back in the cars of students who had been soloed on Saturday to make sure everyone had a chance to learn the safe line for the wet course. It didn't take long for many of the students to be approved for solo on the wet track, and before long we were back in the routine. As the rain tapered off late in the morning, we saw a little sun and a light breeze. Both the sun and the breeze helped start the drying process and the track was well on the way to being dry after lunch. By the second run sessions in the afternoon, the track was almost back to normal and lap times were much lower. As more and more folks headed home, Tom started combining run groups and folks were allowed to stay out on the track longer. By the time the track was closed, everyone had had enough track time.

The comments Sunday were positive and the smiles told the story of yet another successful driving event planned by Joe Wozney. While this event wraps up the track season for GWS, we'll be hard at work planning for next year. Please keep your eyes peeled for information on StarFest, and plan to join us for this major national event – it promises to be a great chance to show your car, meet lots of nice people, enjoy social activities, visit historical Civil War sites, and get in some fun driving on the Summit Main circuit.